Ontario man convicted of rape manages to flee Canada for second time

A Brampton, Ont. man who was recently convicted of sexual assault managed to flee to Pakistan two weeks before his sentencing hearing.

Moazzam Tariq was convicted of raping a woman whose alcohol level was so high that the court found she couldn’t have possibly given consent to having sex with him.

Surveillance footage, taken from a nightclub and hotel elevator had shown that Tariq had encouraged her intoxication, pouring vodka from a bottle directly into her mouth three times, and that she nearly passed out in the elevator going to the hotel room.

He was convicted in October and set to be sentenced on December 1 but decided to flee the country instead. Tariq is a permanent resident of Canada and apparently had two Pakistani passports.

One he was forced to surrender to authorities after his conviction but they were not aware of the second passport’s existence.

How did the Canada Border Services Agency in Montreal not stop him from leaving given his criminal conviction? The CBSA has the power to arrest, detain or remove permanent residents or foreign citizens if they are suspected of crimes.

This isn’t even the first time Tariq has managed to elude the border control agency. In 2010, he escaped to Pakistan after being charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Going to jail may not be Tariq’s only problem, because even if he comes back to Canada, his permanent residency status may be revoked. Permanent residents who are sentenced to prison for six months or more are in danger of losing their status and may be ordered deported.